Virgil134
PMD Writer
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The forests Kichiro made his way through were maze-like spaces filled with tall, overlapping treetops that served to crowd out the sun from its understory. Closer to the entrance of the island's Mystery Dungeon, the shelter of the trees above helped to preserve a thin layer of mist that radiated out from its Distortion, clinging low to the ground in a milky haze. There, Kichiro flitted to and fro among the trunks, searching high and low for any sign of water, only to find nothing but the occasional sight and sound of passing ferals in the brush and a parting glimpses of dungeon fog in the distance.
"Bah, of course I'm the one looking for water in this creepy forest," he complained. "Why is there never anyone else competent enough to do these stupid jobs?!"
The Ledian flitted in place a moment before catching a glimpse of rays of light to his left. Kichiro bobbed his antennae curiously and flew after the light towards a small clearing where short grasses grew in a long strip. He eagerly darted ahead, zipping clear across the strip only to spot nothing but grasses and shrubs at the end. The Bug-Type buzzed puzzledly, looking to his left and his right to discover that while the earth had stones scattered about much as a riverbed would, there wasn't a drop of water to be seen!
"Ugh, how is this supposed to be easier for me anyway?!" Kichiro fumed. "I can't even search from the sky with all these dense trees- Huh?"
He trailed off when he heard a trickling sound, looking around when he realized that the sound was continuing on and coming from closer to the ground.
"Wait, that sounds like water."
Kichiro pressed on, flying low to the ground as he followed the sound, which took him towards a gully obscured by ferns and bushes where in the shade of the trees was the sight of a slow-moving stream cascading down a set of short rapids. He stared out of surprise, before letting out a sigh of relief in realization that the hard part of his task was finally over.
"Yatto…" the Ledian said. "All that's left is to find where this stream goes and then the others can-"
Tchh-shh…
Kichiro froze at the sound of rustling coming from behind him. Instinctively, the Bug-Type flew back, calling out in surprise to the bushes.
"Huh? Who's there?"
He was answered by a long, deathly silence, broken only by the quiet flow of the stream nearby. Kichiro frowned and let out an annoyed chitter as he raised his fists, surmising the rustling must've been from some feral stalking him.
"Whoever you are, I know you're out there!" the Ledian buzzed. "So show your ugly mug already!"
"You… shall… join… us…" a ghastly voice answered.
Kichiro blinked at the strange voice from the bushes, feeling a slight sense of unease as he lowered his fists out of surprise and wondered who… or what he was dealing with here.
"… What?"
The bushes suddenly rended as a billowing column of purple haze came out, followed by two others from further behind that settled into wispy forms with glowing yellow eyes. With growling moans, the spectres extended pairs of shadowy claws, leaving Kichiro to recoil with a buzzing start.
"W-What the hell?!"
The ghosts churned and lurched forward as they raised their claws and yellowish points of light formed in their palms. The wraith at the head of the group let out a guttural snarl, as the light in its claws gathered into orbs that began to dance around in its grasp.
"Join us… in the Spirit World!"
The hazy figures abruptly flung a spray of yellowish orbs, prompting Kichiro to hastily fly to the side in a panic as the orbs sailed off and burst with sparking pops among the trees. The Ledian looked back at the ghosts, going wide-eyed as they rushed at him.
"Oh screw this!" he squeaked. "The others can find their own damn water! I'm out of here!"
Kichiro zipped up as the wraiths descended upon him, flying upward for dear life when he spotted a pocket of sunlight directly ahead. Instinctively, Kichiro flew for it, going past the treetops and out into the open sky as a pair of claws poked out beneath him, and then a second, and a third. The Ledian flew higher and higher in a panic, only to hear the ghostly moaning grow fainter, prompting him to look back towards the treetops and notice that the claws were groping around blindly behind him.
"H-Hah! You missed, you stupid clods!"
Kichiro swiftly took his leave, flying back for the beach and the relative safety of the Mistral Marauder. All the while, the claws ebbed and stilled, sinking back below the treetops in a purple haze as the forest settled down into an uneasy quiet.
On the white beaches of Pioppo, the faint crunching of feet trodding on sand rang out as Dimitri led Ander, Elty, and Guardia along the contours of the island in their search for any sign of Cernun. Thus far, they had turned up little beyond driftwood and worn-down stones, as Elty and Dimitri busied themselves with idle chatter.
"You know even for a Water-Type I'm surprised you didn't go into the forest, Dimitri," the Growlithe said. "Aren't you the one always going on about exploring on land?"
"I mean, you were searching along the coast and if you spotted something out in the water, who else could help you?" Dimitri replied. "It's all part of working as a team."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, when you work on a team, sometimes you need to set aside what you want to do right here and now for the sake of helping everyone move forward," the Kabutops explained. "If I left you all in a position where you could get stuck because of skills I had, I wouldn't be doing my job as a teammate, now would I?"
Guardia smiled, taking heart that even in such an alien upbringing under the waves with nomadic sea Pokémon, evidently the same wisdom her dead passed on had found its way to a 'mon like Dimitri. The Cubone's expression eased as a nagging question entered her mind, leaving her to slow her pace before turning to her teammates.
"… Wait, but if that's the case, why didn't Gardie go inland with the others?" Guardia pressed.
"Hrm? What brings that up?" Ander asked.
"Well, it's just what Dimitri was saying earlier," she said. "A Gardie is supposed to be good at tracking things by scent and the others were going inland… so why didn't he go with them?"
Elty stood blinking a moment, before shaking his head back and continuing along the beach with a sharp harrumph.
"I just know bad news when I smell it," the Growlithe insisted. "We were warned about how dangerous that forest was, and there's no point to taking obviously stupid risks like splitting off into small groups before going in."
"But the others wouldn't be taking such a big risk if you were there in the forest!" Guardia exclaimed. "A 'mon can't see as well with all the plants while the dirt doesn't constantly get wet or blown around like the sand does here on the beach. In that case, you'd quite literally be able to smell things out better there than here."
"Yeah, well I didn't think of that when we were splitting up. I'm sure I'll survive somehow," Elty scoffed back. Guardia's face fell as a sharp frown formed from beneath her bony helmet, prompting her to fold her arms over each other and growl back at the impudent pup.
"Hrmph, with this attitude you're giving I'd almost think you didn't go in because the island reminded you of your 'Nagrobek'."
Elty paused and lowered his ears, turning back slowly with eyes that betrayed a deep sense of unease.
"… What makes you say that?" he asked.
"Well, when Kline brought up Nagrobek, you recoiled from it as if he brushed up against a wound on your body," Guardia began. "You always struck me as a bit too hard-headed to get scared off by a little ghost story, and you're clearly used to using your senses to get around dungeons and territories unclaimed by hut dwellers. So why else would you be acting like this unless if Nagrobek is like this island?"
Elty hardened his eyes as his mood turned sour and testy, leaving him to shift his gaze away as he grumbled under his breath.
"Of course a bone-head like you would be such a little pain…" the Growlithe muttered, before turning back with a sharp glare.
"Look, what Laurens told us wasn't just 'a little ghost story', okay?" he insisted. "And Nagrobek's not relevant to our present circumstances at all! The trees in the forest back there don't even have leaves on their branches!"
"So why'd you react as if you'd just gotten your tail stomped when Elilan was brought up, huh?" Guardia demanded.
The Growlithe folded his ears back and grit his teeth, shooting a harsh glare back at Guardia as Ander eyed him skeptically and began to murmur aloud.
"You did act a bit strange when it was brought up. Almost as if you had some sort of bad experience there with the Company," Ander said. "Are you sure there's nothing else you're not telling us here…? I just don't see why you'd get so defensive over idle musings about the forest otherwise. After all, it's not as if you used to be some manner of feral-"
The Scyther's musings were quickly cut short by a sharp snarl as Elty crouched and bared his teeth back at the others. Guardia recoiled, surprised at her teammate's sudden temper as his words came out in hot and angry breaths.
"Look bub, I came with you all to help look for Cernun! Not to be asked about my life story!" Elty snapped. "I already told you all why I didn't want to go in, so how about we do what we came here for or else I'll call it a day and go back to rest at the ship!"
Guardia, Ander, and Dimitri stood in stunned silence, as Elty snorted and carried along fuming down the beach. Guardia watched as Dimitri began to pace after, only to stop and decide to give the Growlithe his berth, prompting her to look back at Ander as his words lingered in her mind.
"… I'd never thought about it before Strike, but maybe you're onto something," the Cubone murmured. "The way that he gets through dungeons and always seems to know how to deal with things in the wilderness isn't the same as the way that Nida or Crom do it…"
"It's not that implausible, really," Ander replied. "Pokémon like you who leave the wilds aren't that uncommon."
"Don't get too ahead of yourself. I'm merely taking part of an excursion on behalf of my colony," Guardia corrected. "But… I wonder what on earth could've happened to him there."
Ander paused, visible conflicted whether to speak up with thoughts of his own when Dimitri turned back with a raised scythe and gave a sighing shake of his head.
"… Some things aren't meant to be known right away. Just let him be for now," the Kabutops insisted. "If it's something he feels we need to know, I'm sure he'll tell us sometime later."
Guardia shuffled her shoulders uneasily at the crab's reply. Gardie was hiding something from them again. Considering the last thing he hid from them, wasn't it at all proper to try and get to the bottom of the matter? But… this thing felt… different.
"I mean, I guess…"
The Cubone looked after the departing Growlithe, her mind turning back to the night he had walked in on her pining for her father. Could it be that under his impudent and mischievous exterior that he was nursing a similar wound? The Ground-Type drifted in her thoughts only to see the dog abruptly freeze and his tail raise tensely, prompting her to motion to her teammates and quickly catch up.
"Gardie, what are you doing?" she pressed. "You suddenly froze for no reaso-!"
"Why do I have to look for food on land?" a barking voice complained. "I have flippers for crying out loud!"
"Give it a rest already, Pieter. You're handling carrying around that basket just fine, and it's not like you actually have to pick anything anyway."
The four Pokémon stiffened up at the sound of the other voices, Ander drawing his blades near him warily.
"Wait," the Scyther said. "Are those other-?"
Ander's question was answered by the sight of a Charmeleon, a Sealeo, a Noibat, and a Chingling in golden scarves rounding the corner. The four pirates caught sight of the Growlithe and the other Pokémon before them, and dropped their fruits into the sand with a startled jump much as if they'd seen a ghost.
"Huh?! Eltenios?! What are you doing here?!" the Charmeleon cried. Elty's eyes widened and he pinned his ears tightly to the sides of his head, his tongue lolling over itself in hesitant stammers.
"I… er…"
"Hmph, I could say the same to you pirates!" Guardia snapped. "What are you doing here?!"
"Well I thought I was wasting my time being on land," the Sealeo snarled. "But it looks like it was worth it after all."
"Yeah, you twerps have a lot of nerve showing your faces on our island!" the Noibat added. "We got here first!"
"I say let's drag 'em in front of the Captain!" the Chingling cried. "I'll bet Eltenios would be all for it after all the stuff they put him through!"
Elty blanched as he spotted Ander, Dimitri, and Guardia assuming fighting stances from the corner of his eye. He looked back at the pirates as they reciprocated and stared past him with low growls.
"I… That's really not-" the Growlithe began, only to be cut off by a bellow from the pirate Charmeleon.
"Let's do it! I'm sure the Captain would like some payback for what happened in Tidemill-!"
"I'd like to see you try!" Dimitri hissed.
The Kabutops dashed ahead, wreathing his body with water as he zipped into the Charmeleon with an Aqua Jet. The lizard tumbled back with a yelp, Ander dashing after with raised scythes to pin the pirate down before he could recover, only for a squeaking screech to cut through the air.
"I don't think so, bug!"
Ander was cut off by a Chingling jumping in and abruptly knocking him back with an unseen shove at his thorax. The Scyther buzzed with a start, spreading his wings to steady himself when the Noibat swooped in with a Wing Attack, making Ander pratfall into the sand. The Bug-Type shook his head and threw himself back onto his feet, lunging forward with a flying jump and bringing his scythes together in a cross-shaped slash that launched the Chingling into a driftwood log, where he bounced off and rolled along the ground groaning incoherently.
Elty froze and went blank as the din of battle thickened from Team Traveller and the pirates diving at each other. He'd always wanted to go back to his old crew… but having to hurt the 'mons who got him through Sormus, Giotto, and Buyeom… He wasn't going to sign on for that! The Growlithe racked his mind for what to do and who to join, when a Sealeo's annoyed bellow cut through the air and shook him back to attention.
"Argh! Could we seriously not have done this in the water?!"
Elty looked over to see Pieter flopping awkwardly after his teammates on the sand, forcing his flippers back and forth into a rocking gallop. From the side, Guardia darted along minding her distance, sweeping her bone out to the side as she began a whirling dance, only to lose her balance and pitch face-first into the beach coughing up mouthfuls of sand.
"Pah! Pah! That didn't happen last time I tried!" she whined.
"Here, take this while you're at it, you little sneak!" Pieter barked.
The Sealeo cracked his mouth open as ice and rainbow light began to build within, aiming square for the toppled Cubone when a burning blur dashed in and struck the side of his head with a cartwheeling tackle.
"Eyagh!"
The seal flopped over, coughing up a few inert, icy lumps as he lay on the sand hacking. The Water-Type got up and looked around bewilderedly, before seeing Elty looking up at him, making him beat his flippers indignantly.
"Eltenios?! Wat doe je nou?!" the Sealeo fumed. "You completely missed the lizard and hit me, you stupid mutt!"
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you throw her around," Elty replied. "Chasing them off is one thing, but I'm not just going to sit back and let them get hurt!"
"The hell you will!" the seal bellowed. "You'll be seeing stars by the time I'm through with you for that little stun- Ow!"
Pieter recoiled as a whirling bone zipped in and struck him from the side, before the club sailed back as its Cubone owner who braced herself for its return. The Sealeo pivoted with an angry bark and turned his attention to the bone lizard in the distance, prompting Elty to lunge in with opened jaws and be rewarded for his efforts by a spray of salty water to his face.
"Aagh!"
Elty felt his body shoot up, before falling and hitting the sand headfirst. The Growlithe let out a pained whine and lay there as the world around him spun, catching fleeting glimpses of Ander reeling from visibly rippling waves of air coming from the Noibat's ears, and Dimitri flailing at a smoke cloud. The Fire-Type struggled up to his feet, gagging up drops of the Sealeo's water when a startled scream rang out over the beach.
"A-Aaaah!"
Elty's fur raised and he looked back to see Guardia frantically darting around on the beach… chased around by the flopping form of the Sealeo spitting up streams of water during his awkward pursuit, with Guardia's club left a good distance behind him.
"Seriously, bonehead?!" he fumed. "You're supposed to be the strong one on land!"
The Growlithe began to run after, only for Pieter to spit up a Brine at him and force him to roll out of the way as it splattered over the sand. Elty blanched as the seal turned back to pursue his Cubone foe, realizing that if he took another square hit like that from Pieter, he'd be sunk! The Fire-Type quickly shuffled his bag over his shoulders, nosing through it until he felt smooth glass, pulling out the silky white form of a Slow Orb as he looked up and noticed a patch of cragged beach rocks between the positions of the golden-scarved pirates.
"… This is it," he said. "Let's hope it's worth it."
Elty threw the orb with his mouth towards the rocks where the sphere disintegrated into an explosion of glassy shards and silken strands that shot out and latched onto the nearby pirates. In the middle of his stride, Pieter went wide-eyed as a glob of silk pinned his right flipper to his body, making the Sealeo faceplant into the beach and cough up a mouthful of sand.
"H-Hey what the-?!" the pirate yelped.
With her newfound respite, Guardia dashed past her Sealeo attacker for her bone, leaving Pieter to flop and vainly try to keep chase when he felt a bite at his neck blubber. The seal yelped and thrashed in the sand, turning his head to see none other than Elty latched onto him.
"Agh! Get off of me, you lousy furball!"
The Sealeo rolled onto his side, pinning Elty with a yelp. Pieter slammed the side of his head against the beach again and again, until he felt Elty's jaws slack and look down to see him lying dazed in the sand. The Growlithe cringed and curled his body as Pieter readied a watery spray, when he heard a cry from his side and looked just in time to see Guardia jump at the pirate with her club raised, bringing its knob down on his brow with a harsh thwack.
"Nnghk!"
Guardia fell onto her back in the sand and hastily scrambled to her feet, looking up as the Sealeo staggered and tottered off to the side, before slumping over snout-first into the sand. Elty lay panting and wide-eyed, looking up as Guardia neared and lowered a claw to help right her stunned ally.
"N-Nice save there," Elty wheezed.
"Th-Thanks. Same to you."
The two turned their heads at the sound of a pained screech, watching as the Noibat was swatted out of the sky by a clumsy swing of Ander's scythes and left lying limp in the sand. In the smoke cloud, a loud cry rang out as Alfred was ejected from it and tumbled onto his belly. The Charmeleon stumbled to his feet, pawing at a fresh scrape left on his belly when he looked around and paled at the sight of his fellow pirates strewn about unconscious.
"Oh screw this!" he whined. "I'm letting the others deal with you!"
Alfred turned and ran, prompting Guardia to spring up and send her bone into a spinning throw, zipping along for the fleeing lizard when it struck the back of his head. The Charmeleon yelped, pitching snout-first into the sand and leaving the rest of his body sprawled out limply. Guardia watched warily as the Charmeleon's tail flame dimmed into a tired ebb and threw a claw up as her bone returned to her grasp.
The four hastily regrouped to each other and looked at the pirates, only to see them lying still with no sign of life but the faint rising and falling of their chests. Guardia sighed out of relief, before shaking her head and stamping her feet in irritation.
"Grah! How did they even get here?!" the Cubone fumed. "Have they been following us?!"
"I… don't know. We didn't see them around Buyeom and they were just as surprised to run into us," Dimitri murmured. "If anything, it looked more like they were more worried about finding food."
"I mean… even so, what are the odds that they'd just run into us like that?" Ander mused.
Elty folded his ears back and inched away as a troubling realization dawned on him. Back on Orleigh during his night back with the crew, he'd told them all about what he'd been through, including that the team had been on a journey towards Pioppo! Could… could it be that the Iron Fleet had come all the way out here because of him not keeping his yap shut?
"Alfred? Pieter? What's with that racket that we heard?"
Elty grimaced at the sound of a voice from beyond the bushes, realizing it was none other than the Vileplume from the crew… Minhwa, if he remembered right. The Growlithe looked back at the felled pirates, dreading another fight with more of their fellows after they found their friends sprawled out. He gulped and froze blankly when a sharp hiss reached his ears, prompting him to see Dimitri hurrying away and motioning impatiently for the others to follow.
"Time to go, everyone!" Dimitri said.
"How?" Guardia demanded. "We'll leave footprints everywhere on this beach!"
The Kabutops cast a glance out to sea, watching the waves come in as a ray of inspiration struck him and he motioned for his teammates to follow.
"I can think of a way around that. Come on!"
Dimitri stooped down and slid into the water, letting Elty and Guardia latch onto him as Ander took wing behind him. The Kabutops jetted forward, circling about and approaching the beach once more as the waters churned behind him and the felled pirates began to stir and woozily raised themselves up.
"Argh… everything… spinning…" Pieter winced.
"Ngah… where'd those lousy twerps go?" Alfred groaned. "We can't just let this go unansw-!"
The Charmeleon was cut off by a large wave bearing down and promptly knocking him and his fellow pirates further along the beach, melting away any footprints all the while. Back in the water, Dimitri tore away for the deeper waters, leaving Elty to sigh and shake his head as the beach faded further and further behind him.
"A-AAAAAAAH!"
Elty's ears jolted up at the sound of a Charmeleon's screams in the distance, Alfred's screams. The Growlithe's blood ran cold at the cries as they suddenly faded, leaving him to fold his ears and turn uneasily to his teammates.
"… What was that?"
Elty, Ander, and Guardia looked back, the Cubone of the trio putting a claw over her brow to peer off at the beach as her teeth clenched into a tense grimace. Back there, there was nothing to be seen but white sands and the occasional dark rock, with neither hide nor hair of any of the pirates to be seen.
"They're… gone," she said.
"But that was Alfred screaming!" Elty cried. "How could he just be 'gone'?!"
"Maybe… it was the ghosts," Guardia murmured.
A chill went down the spines of the three. Could… could the ghosts Laurens was talking about really have taken those pirates? Then, if they had waited just a little longer, what would have become of them? The trio's pallid unease was broken by an impatient scoff from their swimmer underneath, who slowed his pace to raise his head from the water.
"We were just there. If there were really ghosts, we'd have noticed something," Dimitri insisted. "Let's just focus on getting out of here before their buddies catch up!"
The others looked back uneasily at the beach, before shaking their heads and letting Dimitri carry on his course. Whatever had happened to the pirates, it wasn't worth risking discovery by the others that were just around the bend. And it wasn't as if it would take a ghost to make a pirate scream like that… Perhaps one of the others with Minwha used Wake-Up Slap in Alfred's face… or he rolled his tail into a puddle, for that matter.
Elty, Guardia, and Ander let the matter drift from their minds as Dimitri moved along, not knowing that all the while, a violet presence with yellow, glowing eyes billowed from the treeline of the beach. The cloud-like being shifted as others followed behind, drifting along the forest up the beach, following the course of the Kabutops and his companions in the distance.
Meanwhile, Nida and her companions made their way past trees and bushes in the darkened forest that coated Pioppo's interior. Crom and Pleo led the way, pacing forward as Pleo would occasionally stop to examine a flower or peculiarly shaped rock while Nida and Kiran followed closely from the back. Every now and then, Nida would rear up to sniff the air and scout her surroundings, time and time again seeing nothing but a seemingly endless expanse of trees and undergrowth all about her.
"It's so dense here… you'd never know it was morning from how dark it is right now," the Nidoran murmured. "Why, if it got any thicker, I'd half-expect these trees to fuse into solid walls!"
"Eh, that's overstating things a bit, as if there'd ever be a forest that dense. But even so, it seems like Crom's taking it fine. Pleo too, for that matter," Kiran replied. "I'm surprised at how far the pollito has come along since you left Tromba. He's handling being at the front of the group as if he studied alongside you all this time."
"Well, he kinda had to with everything that we've been through," Nida said. "Though it's nice to have things sorta back to normal again… I don't think I'm quite ready to be a team captain yet."
"Hm? You shouldn't sell yourself short, Nida. I think you've been doing quite well."
The Nidoran slowed her pace and perked her ears up at the Swellow's reply, turning back with a surprised tilt of her head.
"You… do?"
"Of course! You took the initiative to try and get Pleo back from Lyn's ship, and all this time it's you who's helped lead the group one step ahead from the Company," Kiran chirped. "That would be a tall ask for any Pokémon, let alone one who's just made Normal Rank like you."
Nida paused and blinked incredulously a moment, her loss of words being filled by a ruffling of Kiran's feathers as the bird shook his head and continued on.
"Really, you've come a long way from the little spike ball I saw back on Tromba. Both in how you battle and in how you handle exploring dungeons," he insisted. "I'm sure that if you keep at it, you'll have a great career as a rescuer ahead of you."
Nida stood as her mouth curled up into a wider and wider grin, beaming from her captain's compliment. So they had been growing stronger from this ordeal. Why, after having to go through everything with the Company and the Empire chasing after them, going back to prowling dungeons seemed like a cinch! The Poison-Type daydreamed for a moment, watching her ranks fly past in her mind when a sharp squawk from ahead caught her and Kiran's attention.
"Huh? There's something up here in the bushes!" Pleo cried.
The two looked ahead and spotted Pleo looking curiously at a pink tuft in the bushes. His teammates drew near, unsure what to make of the strange object when Pleo moved his beak down and gave it an exploratory nip.
"Agh!"
Pleo's eyes shot wide as the tuft abruptly yanked out of his mouth and a pink Deerling sprang out of the bushes. The feral Grass-Type pulled her tail in close to her body, before shooting a sharp glare at Pleo and letting out a furious snort.
"What is your problem, you stupid bird?!" the Deerling snapped. "Do you think it's funny to just go up and yank a 'mon's tail like that?!"
"Sorry! Sorry!" Pleo insisted. "I didn't know that was your-"
"Non voglio starti a sentire!" the Grass-Type snarled back. "Take this!"
The Deerling lunged forward with a jumping tackle, prompting Pleo to fly back with a startled yelp and bolt for his teammates. The Deerling growled and gave chase, only for Crom to rush in and ball a claw up into a fist.
"Knock it off!"
He pulled his arm back and threw it forward against the Deerling's jaw, sending her flopping to the ground with a pained yelp. Crom exhaled, feeling his blood course through his veins much as it would after a good bout of training when he looked down and chanced to see a few stray orange flecks dissipate around his knuckles. The dragon's eyes widened in surprise, giving way to triumphant realization that he'd clocked the Deerling with none other than…
"Hey, wait a minute. That was Power-Up Punch!" Crom exclaimed. "I finally did it! I finally used it right!"
"That's amazing, Crom!" Nida cheered. "I knew it wouldn't take you long!"
The Druddigon turned and beamed back at his teammates, giving a satisfied wag of his tail when he heard shifting behind him as the Deerling got up groaning, before recoiling and shrinking back wide-eyed.
"G-Gah! You stupid hut freaks from the dungeon are only tough because you never fight by yourselves!" the Deerling stammered. "W-Why don't you try fighting without someone to hide behind, huh?!"
The Grass-Type wheeled and gave a pair of stiff kicks with her hooves, catching Crom in his stomach and sending him stumbling back wincing in pain. The Dragon-Type looked down and rubbed at his injured stomach, before looking up and spotting the Deerling's tail slipping past a set of nearby bushes.
"Ow! Hey! Get back here!" the Druddigon growled.
The four gave chase, catching glimpses of the fleeing Deerling in between the bushes as they tried to keep pace, only to suddenly lose sight of the Grass-Type entirely and come to a skidding stop. The group looked around, but saw nothing but bushes and trees about them, with their hearing and smell similarly failing to catch any trace of the Deerling.
"Do you see where she went?" Crom panted.
"I thought you saw her!" Nida cried. Kiran frowned, puffing his feathers out as he took to the air to try and spot some clue from above, only to find things similarly fruitless.
"Pah, I can't see anything with all these trees- huh?"
Kiran trailed off as he saw a chunk of wood poking over a nearby patch of bushes. The Flying-Type moved ahead warily with his teammates, going wide eyed as they discovered they were shingles to a crude hut constructed from unpainted wooden planks.
"Wait, a shack?!" the Swellow squawked.
"Eh? But I thought there was no town on this island!" Pleo exclaimed. "Why's there a building at all?"
Nida, Crom, and Kiran had no answer to the Lugia's question. The group began to creep towards the building, carefully avoiding disturbing the ground and branches around them to avoid giving away their approach. While it was on the rougher side, from the lack of rotted timbers or missing shingles the hut hadn't been sitting abandoned… or at least not for long.
"It's not going to win many awards for construction, but it looks like someone's been keeping it up," Nida said. "So I don't think it's from when Blackmoon was still around…"
Pleo eyed the shack and shrank away uneasily. Laurens had said that shortly before he ran into the ghosts, his crew had found signs that Pokémon other than ferals had been living nearby, so was it really safe to be around this suspicious hut…?
"… What if it's haunted and a trap made by the ghosts?" he asked.
"But wouldn't it look all creepy if that was the case?" Crom countered. "I mean, this looks a little rough around the edges, but it doesn't look haunted…"
Nida paused and flared her ears. Something about all this seemed strangely familiar. She turned her thoughts back to when she, Pleo, Elty, and Guardia were on Orleigh and met up with a Feraligatr that had been to Pioppo before. One who had mentioned coming across huts with fresh bedding laid out. Could this be one of them?
“I… think Crom’s onto something, Pleo,” she said. “Remember those huts that Laurens told us about? He said they were signs that Pokémon were out here who were managing to avoid the ghosts.”
Kiran paced warily along the shack's side, rounding the corner to see a rickety door built in the center. A cursory glance revealed neither a keyhole nor a padlock attached to it, which prompted him to turn to his charges with a quiet murmur.
"The door doesn't have a lock," he said. "Let's go take a look inside."
Kiran pushed the door open and proceeded in, followed closely behind by his pupils. There inside, they discovered the interior of the shack consisted of a single room with flooring made of rough wooden boards and a crude table and stools set out in its center. To the left, there were a few chests tucked in a corner, along with a tattered map of Anyilla and a map of an island, presumably Pioppo tacked onto the wall. To the right was a firepit filled with cinders, which Crom neared and sniffed at warily, tensing up as he noticed the lingering smell of smoke about it.
"Well, someone was definitely here recently," the Druddigon said. "But who? And why?"
Nida paced around, curiously eyeing the hut's furnishings when she suddenly felt her toe brush against a hard, flat object on the ground. The Nidoran looked down and saw a Skarmory feather at her feet, prompting her to cringe and flatten her ears as uncomfortable memories of being slashed and jabbed at by cruel, steely talons returned to the fore of her mind. She inched away, trying to blot out the unwanted reminder when she noticed a small stack of objects including the familiar glossy black glass of an Escape Orb piled in a corner. Nida paused and thought of how strange this all was, only to flare her ears out of sudden realization.
"That Deerling earlier thought that we came from the Dungeon," she piped. "Maybe there's some sort of town built in there?"
"A town in a dungeon?" Crom asked. "But who would build such a thing?"
"A town full of Pokémon with something to hide. I’m just not sure if it’s only from those ghosts we keep hearing stories about…" Kiran murmured, prompting Pleo to shift uneasily and tuck his head close to his body.
"Are… Are we sure that it's okay to be here?" he gulped. "When Laurens said that he came here, he said that the crew with him ran into places that looked like Pokémon lived there just before the ghosts attacked…"
"But we've only seen this one shack and haven't heard anything at all," Crom insisted, shaking his head back insistently. "Maybe those ghosts that everyone talks about only come out at night or something like that."
"I'm not sure… but regardless, it seems like the local Mystery Dungeon seems like the best place to look next," Kiran mused.
Nida flicked her ears and perked up to attention as her paws went for her bag.
“Wait a minute,” she said. “I just remembered, I made a map of all of this. If we figure out which of those shacks this one is, maybe we’d be able to find our way to that Mystery Dungeon faster.”
Kiran gave a surprised tilt of his head at his pupil’s remarks.
“You certainly had quite an adventure before we finally caught up with you,” Kiran remarked. “Though let’s wait on looking over that map for now. We should go tell everyone what we already found and reprovision before we go off looking for a way in."
"… Right," Nida said. "We wouldn't want them to think we've gone missing."
The Nidoran paced ahead for the door as Crom, Kiran, and Pleo followed along. After exiting the hut, the four looked back at it for a moment, before plodding along retracing their steps through the broken foliage as the forest returned to its prior silence.
As Team Traveller made their way back to their encampment, the Iron Fleet's scouting party came upon a beachside field riddled with ruins much as the Staravia had described. There, charred planks and stumps littered the ground along with broken-down walls of stone that outlined shacks that had long been destroyed by fire. The pirates set about rooting through the destroyed settlement, Valatos, Alvise, and Nori examining the low-walled remains of a stone house where they pawed at an ash pile next to a burnt chair, shooting disgusted glares as they turned up nothing of value much as everyone else had since their arrival.
"Pah, what a dump!" Valatos hissed. "There's nothing but rubble and ash here!"
"How does the Captain even expect us to loot anything from this place?" Alvise grumbled.
"Well there's nobody here, meaning it's safe at least," Nori sighed. "Though what do you suppose this place even was?"
"Probably some sort of abandoned encampment or the like," Valatos replied. "We're not the only pirates who had to find shelter from a storm at some point, so maybe another crew had the same idea and torched the place to cover their tracks."
"Aren't there just a few too many ruins for that?" Alvise asked. "I mean, if I didn't know any better, I'd say we were in the middle of a destroyed town… like Blackmoon Village or something like that."
The three paused as a cold chill ran down their back. Being in the Blackmoon Village? The place that was supposed to have been destroyed by the Empire so mercilessly that its inhabitants lingered on as vengeful spirits that dragged off anyone who dared tread on Pioppo? The thought alone was enough to make a 'mon shudder!
But… if that was the case, wouldn't they have found bones, shells, or any evidence at all that 'mons died here? Why, if it wasn't for the foundation of a building or a piece of broken glass here or there, they would've thought they were just in a burnt-up patch of forest! And they hadn't seen any sign of there being ghosts since they came… so who was to say that Valatos' earlier musings weren't right?
"It doesn't matter," Nori grunted. "Let's just focus on getting the stuff we need and-"
"Ow! Hey watch it!"
The Marowak and his companions turned to see a Wimpod and Litten staring each other down, the bug of the pair heatedly hissing at the offending cat over trodding on him. The argument went back and forth with the two accomplishing little more than to blow hot air over who was at fault, much to Valatos' groaning dismay.
"How did we ever get stuck on a crew full of dweebs like these in the first place?" the Yanmega grumbled.
"I seem to recall this was your idea instead of trying to hold out for a better crew," Alvise chided. "And when's Kichiro supposed to show up? He's supposed to be helping us out here!"
"Huh? But he's not coming out here."
The three blinked out of surprise and turned to see Wilhelm floating by and settling down on a nearby rock, spinning his leaves happily. Valatos cracked his mandibles incredulously, before piping back to the Hoppip with a sharp buzz.
"What are you going on about?" the Bug-Type demanded. "The Captain told him he was supposed to lead our group!"
"Well, when I was coming up he told Keiichiro that he needed him to find water for the ship instead and that we should work on our own…" Wilhelm murmured, before jumping up into the air and giving a wave of his limbs.
"But that shouldn't be a problem, right?" the Hoppip cheered. "We're all one big team, so let's do our best for the crew and find those supplies!"
Wilhelm carried along, drifting with a passing breeze while humming to himself as Alvise, Valatos, and Nori stared after him slack-jawed. The Marowak among them shook his head, gritting his teeth as he gave a seething stomp of his foot against the dirt.
"Pah, I don't believe this!" Nori fumed. "What sort of incompetent captain just leaves a group without anyone in charge?!"
A disgusted approximation of a frown settled over Valatos' mandibles as Alvise continued staring blankly, only for his muzzle to curl up into a grin and his eyes to harden into a sneering gaze.
"Really now? Are you sure there's no one in charge here?" Alvise asked.
"Huh? But Keiichiro was supposed to be here and now he isn't," Nori rebutted. "Who else is supposed to be in charge?"
"Well, I can think of three 'mons from a crew that's more experienced than this one," the Manectric explained. "Do they really have a reason to work with these biflóne as equals right now?"
Valatos and Nori blinked a moment, before similarly turning their faces up into malevolent sneers. Even being stuck on the Iron Fleet wouldn't be as bad if it meant having 'mons to push around, and these dweebs around them would fit the bill just nicely!
"Hah! I like the way you think, Alvise," Valatos piped up. "Come on, let's go show these dorks who's boss!"
The three carried on among the charred ruins, their eyes turning to a rocky outcropping poking over the surroundings where Alvise clambered up, followed by Valatos to his right and Nori to his left. After taking a moment to survey the working pirates, Valatos let out a sharp buzz to break through the chatter.
"Hey everyone!" he exclaimed. "Come around and listen close, something important's come up!"
One after the other, the members of the Iron Fleet in the ruins looked up, before crowding in front of the stone and trading puzzled glances with each other, peering up curiously at the Yanmega and his companions.
"Eh? Aren't those the new guys?" a Litten asked.
"What's going on?" a Cherrim wondered. "Did they find something?"
"Look," Alvise said. "I think we can all agree this place is a dump and no one likes we got assigned to check it out, right?"
The Manectric was answered by nods and a chorus of agreeing murmurs from the gathered pirates, the budding agreement punctuated by Wilhelm piping up excitedly.
"I don't mind!" the Hoppip cheered. "It's exciting to check out!"
"… Right," Alvise said, narrowed his eyes into an unamused stare. "Well since everyone else hates it and we're stuck without a leader, the three of us are willing to do you a favor by having us be in charge of this little mission."
At once, the mood of the other pirates soured as disgruntled protests flew up one after the other. A Pawniard and Voltorb made their way to the front, the Sharp Blade Pokémon waving his arms threateningly as his partner let sparks dance on his spherical body.
"Why should we listen to you for that?" the Pawniard demanded.
"Yeah! The Captain didn't give you any special position!" the Voltorb protested. "You're no different from the rest of us!"
The Voltorb was summarily answered by a swat from Nori's bone that knocked him into the Pawniard's belly, knocking him onto his back with a yelp. Alvise leapt off the rock, stepping forward into the crowd as he shot a harsh glare at his peers.
"Because, we're elite pirates and we've got the experience to back it up," Alvise growled. "If Hess, Rodion, and Kichiro aren't going to be here to push you around, we're the logical candidates!"
"'Elite' my butt!" a Staravia squawked. "You all lost us the tournament and have barely been on this crew for two weeks!"
Alvise turned and kicked a spray of dirt and ash with his hind legs into the bird's face, leaving her to splutter and cough. The Manectric let a weak jolt of electricity arc off his body and run through the Staravia's plumes, leaving her limbs to freeze and send their owner plummeting face-first onto the ground as Alvise sneered down and turned his attention to the others.
"We're stronger than any of you and have done more in two weeks than the lot of you have done in however long you've been loafing around on this crew!" he snapped. "If you've got such a problem with it, why don't you do something about it, huh?"
Alvise arched his back and let sparks crackle along his pelt as Valatos and Nori sidled up and entered similarly aggressive stances. The pirates fell silent and shrank away timidly, leaving Nori and his companions to flash predatory smirks.
"Heh heh heh! Looks like we're making our way up that ladder nice and quick!" Nori sneered.
"Well now, since we're all in agreement, let's have you get to work," Valatos said. "To start with-"
"Mwee hee hee! Foolish bug, there's no need to be so worried about who's in charge…"
"Huh?!" Alvise exclaimed. "Who's there?!"
The wolf whirled around in time to see a huge, purplish cloud drift out of the tree line, the entire assembly flushing pale as it rose into a towering column and suddenly sprouted a pair of glowing yellow eyes and wispy claws that stretched ahead menacingly.
"I'll take things over from here…" the ghost said. "Starting with your souls!"
Alvise's audience quickly lost their nerve as the pirates bolted and ran, a few stopping to drag the Staravia off along with them. All the while, the air filled with frightened yowls and squeals.
"A-AAAAAAAAH!"
"Monster! Monster!"
The Manectric and his companions stood frozen in terror while the haze-like wraith approached. As it drew near, Alvise hastily threw up some sparks along his fur while Valatos sharply beat his wings and Nori tightened his grip on his bone.
"A-As if!" Nori stammered. "We're tough 'mons!"
"Y-Yeah! We'll kick your ghostly butt into the sea!" Alvise retorted.
Nori lobbed his club into a spinning Bonemerang, with Alvise and Valatos following up with Thunderbolt and Air Slash. The attacks zipped into the haze, only for the three to watch horrified as their efforts passed through without any discernible effect. Nori stood slack-jawed, staring blankly as his bone flew back out of the haze and landed inertly at his side, leaving him to quiver at the sight of the large ghost and squeal out of fear.
"Y-Yeeeek!"
"Wh-What do we do here?!" Alvise whined.
"G-Gih! Where's the rest of you stupid clods?!" Valatos demanded. "Help back us up here-!"
The Yanmega and his companions turned around and went wide-eyed, seeing that all that remained of their teammates was a line of trampled sand up the beach in the distance.
"Th-They ditched us!" Nori cried.
"R-Run for it!" Alvise yelped. "Don't look back!"
Alvise and Valatos tore along with loud screams, Nori grabbing at his bone and stumbling as he ran after the two for the beach. The giant wraith gave chase for a short distance, before slowing to a stop and falling back, allowing the pirates to slip off into the distance and their cries to grow muddled as snickering came from a cluster of bushes behind the ghost, along with murmuring voices.
"Shouldn't we keep going after them? We do need to make some examples here."
"And be stuck with those jerks for all eternity? Golly, no!"
"Mwee hee hee! Well I'm not complaining about this outcome! Let's move on and see if we can teach any of their buddies a lesson!"
The cloudy wraith spread out over the ground, receding back into the bushes as a slight breeze kicked up. As the last tendrils of the ghost faded away, the ruins returned to their normal, dead, quiet, with naught but the whistling of the winds disturbing the silence.
About half an hour after Nagant had arrived in Magmapool Town, the Braixen led her into the Duke's palace overlooking the town. The estate had been built out of ruddy wood with black slate tiling around a courtyard laid out with decorative stonework, with steam curling up from a small hot spring on the site. The Fire-Type led the visiting Clawitzer down a series of winding hallways illuminated by opaque, vaguely paper-colored windows to a double door where a Typhlosion and a Cradily in cerulean cloth and mail kept watch.
After a hasty explanation from the Braixen in her native tongue, the guards opened the doors and escorted the pair in, where they came upon a wide room held up by lacquered columns with a raised throne at the back of the room. Nagant surmised that this must have been an audience chamber, though the sound of loud snarfing and the sight of heavyset Rhyperior on the throne gobbling down pastries from a silken table set out before the throne seemed to indicate it was being put to… alternative uses at the moment, much to the visible dismay of a tired-faced Lycanroc with light brown and white fur standing nearby.
"Duke Seok! I bring Captain Nagant of the Uragan!" the Braixen announced. "She says she's here with urgent news from the crown!"
The Rhyperior looked up from his food with an unimpressed snort, before putting aside a half-eaten macaron and lazily turning his gaze over to the still-waiting shrimp.
"And what exactly would this 'urgent news' be, Nugget?" Seok demanded. "Can't you see I'm busy here?"
"It's Nagant, Your Grace. And there should be a 'Captain' in there," the Clawitzer grumbled. "And… what exactly were you busy with right now? I don't see much else on the table beyond your pastries."
The Rhyperior let out an affected scoff, hardening his eyes before turning away. Hoping to wrangle her superior's attention back, the Lycanroc Governor swiftly darted up, pawing insistently at Duke Seok's arm.
"Your Grace, if it's really a matter from the Crown, perhaps it would be for the best to hear her out," she insisted. "The commotion yesterday was caused partly by a communique from Her Highness, after all…"
Seok grumbled annoyedly, shifting his body in his seat as he leaned forward and rolled his claws against the table impatiently.
"Very well, I will generously take time from my matters to hear out your petty concerns," the Rhyperior said.
Nagant's mandibles cracked wide as her eyes narrowed in disgust. Who did this fat oaf think he was?! The Clawitzer quickly shook her head, opting to swallow her pride and try to press the Rhyperior's attention while she could.
"As I'm sure you've heard by now, Her Majesty has been putting the fullest efforts of the Crown into finding the pirates who stole away the realm's new Protector," Nagant began. "While I was tracking them, their course led me to your island only to find out they already left! They could very well be headed outside our waters and that's why I need your help to determine which route they took as quickly as possible!"
"Pah! Pirates?" Seok scoffed. "Do you not see that I have more important things to handle, Nugget?"
"Your Grace, this is a Protector we're talking about here!" the Clawitzer snapped. "What could possibly be-?!"
"First I hear one of my island's best Rescue Teams turns out to be a bunch of Company spies, and then I learn that I have been tricked by a bunch of andang with a fake Protector!" the Rhyperior fumed.
Nagant blinked slowly at Seok's outburst. She had to admit, Company agents disguising themselves as a Rescue Team on an Imperial island and a Pokémon pretending to be a Protector certainly weren't everyday matters that could be brushed under the rug… But that didn't change anything about the situation at hand! Even with everything going on, it would be cold comfort to bring spies and a false Protector to account if it meant putting the entire Empire at risk! Whether by ruffians seizing him or the commoners turning against the crown in their impatience for a sign of divine forgiveness, the realm was in peril and the Duke was just brushing it off as another inconvenience!
The Clawitzer shook her head, raising her voice with newfound adamance as she tried once again to explain the seriousness of the situation to the noble.
"But that doesn't change that there's a real Protector-!" she insisted, only to be cut off by a clattering thud.
"I will not be made a fool by square-necks and common scoundrels!" the Rhyperior roared, pounding a claw against the table over and over. "I must see to it that they are answered!"
"Except we don't have time for this nonsense!"
An audible gasp came from the other Pokémon in the room as the Duke rose from his chair with an offended harrumph. Undeterred, Nagant continued on, hoping that the severity of the situation would reach through to the corpulent Rock-Type.
"Tidemill was thrown into an uproar when the Protector was carried off. If he is not found soon, there's nothing to prevent such uproars from spreading across the realm!" Nagant exclaimed. "They could be halfway into Company waters right now and as such, it's critical that I follow after those pirates as quickly as possible!"
"Well how am I supposed to help with that?" Seok demanded. "Nobody here knows where those blasted pirates sailed off to, and I don't exactly have any seaworthy ships to offer right now thanks to the Crown wanting me to capture those pirates in the first place! Go look around port yourself if you need a lead!"
Nagant fell silent and let her large claw hang limply. He- He wasn't giving her any help?! The Lycanroc Governor closed her eyes and shook her head and let out a grudging sigh.
"… I'm afraid that he does have a point, Captain," she added. "As urgent as the matter with the Protector is, we do have our paws full and aiding your quest means precious little if Magmapool's black walls go undefended."
Nagant glared daggers back across the table fighting with every ounce of her willpower to not summarily fire off a Water Pulse at the pair on the other end. The shrimp let out a sharp sigh, fighting with her mouthparts to present a flat, stern expression as she forced out a grudging reply.
"That's… completely understandable…" she muttered. "I suppose it can't be helped."
"Then I shall bid you farewell, Nugget. And do shut the door on the way out," Seok instructed.
The Clawitzer turned on her tail and hopped off slowly, laying a claw on the doors as she passed their threshold before she slammed them shut behind her and let out a seething hiss that filled the hallway. The guards inched away warily as Nagant continued on and rounded the corner, grumbling with barely-hidden contempt on how such a useless fat lump could have just left her out to dry like that. Duke Seok knew as well as she did that Lugia had been here, but instead of so much as pointing a claw after his direction for her to follow, she was once again without a lead as to how they were heading back to Tromba! She leveled her claw at a nearby vase and fired off an orb of water in frustration that dashed it against a wall with a crash. Nagant pulled her claw back with a disgusted huff before hopping off, eager to take her leave from the blasted palace.
"I can hear the others up ahead!"
Nida followed Crom's voice and brushed past a final barrier of bushes back to the sunlit white sands of Pioppo's beaches. The Nidoran waited for Kiran and Pleo to follow her out of the forest, when her ears pricked at the sound of murmuring to their right. The four turned their attention down the beach, where the incomplete encampment they remembered seeing when they'd left had turned into a half-circle of tents and lean-tos fashioned from spent sailcloth and wood built around a firepit. The party breathed a grateful sigh that they'd have a place to rest for a bit, setting off for the tents when they caught sight of Elty, Guardia, Dimitri, and Ander talking with a large group of sailors crowded around them.
"Hey! You guys won't believe what we found in the forest!" Nida cried.
"I… think we could say the same, Nida," Elty murmured.
"Huh?"
The Nidoran tilted her head, noticing that Elty and his group all had surprisingly grave expressions on their faces. Guardia pulled her bone in close to her, giving an uneasy tap of it against her claws as she looked warily over her shoulder.
"We ran into Gardie's old pirate buddies further down the beach," the Cubone explained.
Kiran and his charges went wide-eyed at the revelation, the Swellow hopping back with a flapping start as he spluttered back incredulously.
"W-Wait, what?!"
"We encountered four of them foraging for berries when they threatened to bring us in front of their captain," Ander replied. "We knocked them out, but didn't have time to figure out more about how they got here since we overheard more of their buddies coming."
Nida, Pleo, Crom, and Kiran dropped their jaws at the Scyther's words. The last time they saw that lousy band of pirates was when they escaped Giotto, so how could they have known to come here?!
"B-But we shook them off in Tidemill!" Pleo squawked. "Why are they here right now?!"
"We're not fully sure, actually. We first thought they followed us here, but the pirates we ran into were just as surprised to see us," Dimitri replied, leaving Crom to blink curiously at him.
"Huh? But how else could they be here?" the Druddigon asked.
"That's… a good question."
An uncomfortable silence settled over the group at the Kabutops' musings. Right now, they were all alone on an island with killer ghosts on the one hand, and a marauding band of pirates on the other. Did the Iron Fleet know about this place? If so, who was to say that they weren't in the process of walking into a giant trap?
Uneasy murmurs floated up around the surrounding sailors, as a few more fainthearted 'mons from their number began to suggest that perhaps it was a sign to get going while they could. Vicente stepped forward from amidst the crowd, shaking his head as he shot a serious glance over at Team Traveller's members.
"Look, regardless of how they got here, the question is what we should do about it," the Hitmontop said. "I get that your mission here is important, but those pirates likely know we're here now, and after their ambush between Kenobi and Mengir, I'm not too eager to get into another fight with them."
"Well, maybe we won't need to be here for that long," Kiran offered, drawing a puzzled frown back from Vicente.
"What do you mean?"
"Out in the woods, we ran into a feral who said there were scarf-wearers living in the Mystery Dungeon," the Swellow explained.
"That's right, and just after that, we found a shack that had been recently lived in with maps of the island on the wall," Crom added. "If those Pokémon are really in there, we'd be able to find the dungeon through those maps and ask them where Cernun is!"
“And with the one we’ve already got,” Nida added.
Nida fished through her bag and pulled out the scribbled map from deep inside it. It was definitely on the loose and rough side, but the markers for where the ruined town was on the eastern side of the island and the red crossmarks that had been on Laurens’ map were still there. Nida noticed that one of them was much further south than the others and held her paw on it.
“I think that we might have seen that shack there,” she said. “If so, then there’s probably an entrance into the Mystery Dungeon not far away.”
The three’s musings seemed to inspire a bit more confidence in the gathered crew, the budding whispers of turning tail silenced by the idea of having a leg up on finding out where this island's hidden Protector was. All the while, Guardia tensely prodded her bone against the sand, looking back uneasily at the forest in the distance.
"I suppose going into the Mystery Dungeon could work, but… how do we get back out afterwards?" the Cubone asked. "We didn't get a chance to get another Escape Orb before we left Buyeom."
"I'll have Kelly handle that," Vicente replied.
The Hitmontop whistled, beckoning an Elgyem to approach from the crowd and give a bow. Team Traveller's members sized up the Psychic-Type puzzledly, as Vicente gave a determined glance back.
"Kelly may not work the Rescue Team circuit regularly, but she knows enough about teleporting to get a group out from a Mystery Dungeon," the Hitmontop reassured.
"Just give me your badges a moment," the Elgyem instructed. "Treat it like you would a mission back at home."
The younger members of Team Traveller undid their badges, before making their way up one by one to the Psychic-Type, who held the metal baubles aloft and focused, doing likewise with Ander, Dimitri, and Kiran's badges. The eight turned their gaze to the treeline after receiving their badges back, having their attention called back by Vicente's voice calling out to them.
"Good luck out there," he said. "If you run into any trouble, call out to Kelly for help as soon as you can."
"We will," Kiran insisted. "And we'll pass on what we find in case we need others to help us."
The Swellow and his teammates waved before heading off, slipping off under the cover of the forests as they pressed on, letting the beach's sand fade away behind the undergrowth and tree trunks around them as they retraced their course to the abandoned shack. The group followed their steps, making their way up gullies and over hills when Pleo began to slow down, wondering aloud to himself.
"How are we gonna explore the dungeon?" the Lugia asked. "We don't know anything about it or how it's laid out… Would it make sense to split into groups again the same way we did on Buyeom?"
"It would help us cover ground more quickly," Kiran mulled. "Even just staying in two groups again would already make our search go faster."
"It… doesn't… matter…"
Team Traveller froze and felt their blood chill at the sound of the spectral voice filtering through the trees. The lot tensed up, Dimitri reflexively throwing his scythes at his ready as he eyed his surroundings tensely.
"Who's there?!" Dimitri demanded.
"The only place you will explore…" the ghostly voice answered. "Is the Spirit World!"
The trees in front of the group lurched and rended as looming figures burst forth, seemingly made of purplish haze pockmarked with glowing yellow eyes. Dimitri and his companions stood fixed in terrified panic as they watched the misty figures near and extend disembodied claws towards them.
"B-Bogowie, are these the ghosts Laurens talked about?!" Elty gulped
"I don't know, but they're going down!" Guardia growled.
The Cubone planted her feet firmly and hurled her bone at one of the spectral figures with a whirling Bonemerang, followed quickly by a salvo from her teammates that included a Weather Ball from Pleo, a Scald from Dimitri, and an Ember from Elty. One after the other their attacks zipped through, accomplishing little other than to part the haze temporarily or make the ghosts lurch away for a moment. Ander backpedaled, holding his blades out defensively, before finding his nerves and lunging for one of the figures. The Bug-Type sprang up, bringing one of his scythes down with a mighty swing that made the ghost's eyes widen, before flickering and vanishing, leaving the mantis swinging at little other than purplish smoke.
"I-It's not doing anything!" Ander stammered.
The ghost suddenly circled back, knocking Ander down as a set of eyes focused on him. The Scyther screeched and thrashed, only for his cries to trail off as he grew woozy and seemingly lapsed out of consciousness to Nida's horror.
"Ander!"
The Nidoran dashed forward, followed by Kiran and Dimitri ahead of their teammates as they tried to rush to Ander's aid, only for the ghost to latch onto the fallen Bug-Type while the other wraiths rushed in with outstretched claws. One of the ghosts lunged for Nida and tried to grab her, prompting her to fan her barbs out and force the spectre to recoil. Further aside, Dimitri stumbled back from a shadowy orb that struck him in the face, leaving him to hastily regain his bearings to see a ghost charging him and promptly use Aqua Jet to get out of the ghost's path. From above, Kiran was forced back by a spray of yellowish orbs as his teammates threw attacks for cover, making the wraiths recoil with hisses, moving aside to reveal nothing but empty dirt where they'd last seen Ander. Team Traveller froze, their blood draining from their faces as their Swellow leader broke out into a panicked squawk.
"F-Fall back! Fall back!"
The lot tore along, running back along their forest path in a hasty retreat. Crom ran behind Nida, desperately forcing his way forward over rocks and undergrowth when the sound of a squawking scream reached his earholes from behind.
"H-Help!"
The two turned back, Pleo's screams making the rest of the team ahead freeze and whirl where they saw him getting pinned to the ground by pairs of claws, sparks arcing among his feathers before fading inertly as one of the hazy figures gave a piercing look that seemed to freeze him in place and others began to circle around him. Without thinking, Nida reversed course, bounding for the stricken Protector as her Druddigon companion followed behind her.
"Pleo! Hang in there!" Nida shouted.
"We're coming to help!" Crom cried.
Kiran, Dimitri, Elty, and Guardia hastily attempted to come to their companions' aid, when the trees beside them suddenly rustled and were brushed aside by a pair of wraiths rushing out into the path ahead of them.
"And where do you think you're going?!"
The ghosts curled down, spewing a hail of yellowish orbs at the four as their vision ran muddy and the world about them spun in a daze. Guardia and Elty thrashed, throwing attacks around wildly as they heard Kiran and Dimitri shout, along with the sound of Nida and Crom screaming. A shadowy ball struck the Cubone and the Growlithe, knocking the two to the ground panting and cringing, expecting the wraiths to settle over them next.
"Nida! Nida! Where are you?!"
Elty rose to his feet woozily, his vision stabilizing enough to see Guardia propping herself up on her bone, and Kiran and Dimitri calling out into the upended forest ahead. The four looked around for any sign of their companions, or the ghosts that had attacked them, only to be answered by the sound of silence, broken by a low whine from Elty's throat and the faint pattering of droplets of water against the ground beside Kiran.
Author's Notes:
- Yatto (やっと)… - Japanese: "Finally…" (Hepburn Romanization)
- Wat doe je nou?! - Dutch: "What are you doing?!" lit. "What do you now?!"
- Non voglio starti a sentire! - Italian: "I don't want to hear it!"
- biflóne - Venetian: "nerds"
- andang (악당) - Korean: "villain(s)" (South Korean Revised Romanization)
